There was a roundabout by my brother's second apartment in Vermont. It was at that point that I knew Vermont was...different.

Roundabouts make the baby American Jesus cry!

The baby American Jesus can drink whisky from the cat bowl for all I care.

The baby American Jesus can drink whisky from the cat bowl for all I care.

Is it wrong that I want to add "and film it and show it every year at Christmas" to that sentence?

Atlantans do four-way stops badly. They do our few roundabouts badly. The also believe that when a stoplight is out or flashing red, the law of the jungle applies.

We have many round abouts in our daily commutes. The Jetta has racing suspension so DH just can't resist zooming around an extra time or two for fun when he drives that car. Which is not often since it is Bobby's now. I haven't caught Bobby doing so, yet.

lisah, try going with a really tight agenda you send out beforehand. And then you can be the asshole by cutting people off to force people to stick to the agenda! But asshole with an agenda!

I swear, I AM that person in a meeting. I wouldn't call me an asshole. Just really strict in guiding the discussion. Given some of the people I work with would happily go off on a hour long tangent turned rant turned 4 hours later, someone has to do it. Am I accused of being abrupt? Yes, but by god, meetings I run rampant over get to the point. And I'm not mean, unless you count friendly but professional but strict MEAN.

Now a brainstorming session...well, I still will cut people off if it gets too far afield.

So basically I'm saying, examine your motives and the effectiveness of your style, and see what is working and what isn't. If someone's feelings are hurt because you cut off their brilliantly crafted musings, but the point is still made and you just saved your team the 11th iteration of the same thought? Just tack on a "bless your heart" as you overtalk them.

But then, I just recently got in an argument in a meeting with my boss, so maybe we're all an abrasive, abrupt bunch with thick skins....

Atlantans do four-way stops badly. They do our few roundabouts badly. The also believe that when a stoplight is out or flashing red, the law of the jungle applies.

It does apply! And the law of the jungle is that if there's a red flashing light, you can be sure that its owner either wants to devour you or have sex with you. Approach intersection with care!

I just spent several minutes waffling around my kitchen wondering what I should use to cut the wasabi mustard for a red snapper marinade before remembering the existence of soy sauce. I've only been eating sushi for a decade, after all.

Roundabouts make the baby American Jesus cry!

Roundabouts, or as we New Englanders call them, rotaries, are awesome. Traffic studies indicate that they are both safer and keep traffic moving more smoothly than traffic lights.

sarameg, I'm with you on meetings. Wasting time in meetings makes me crazy and I tend to jump in and start running them whenever I can, just out of respect for people's time. I went to a meeting a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of senior managers, and it was so embarrassing how badly prepared the guy running the meeting was. He didn't have an agenda, the materials he did have, he didn't know how to show it on the projected screen, the conversation just fumbled and flopped all over.

One of the things I like about my current boss is that he really keeps meetings on track, and has threatened to have some meetings standing.

I am having an overnice problem at work right now (not, me, don't be ridiculous, you idiot). I think the silences I keep ending up with are people not wanting to say anything non-positive, so since they can't say anything nice...

It's just clearly counterproductive and will come back to bite all of us in the ass. I can't keep suggesting things that other people don't understand. Because I will seem even more assholish than usual. But if I don't point out they don't understand it, when the shit hits the fan they will look to me for the answer, and the answer HAS NEVER BEEN MY JOB TO KNOW.

But, Jesus, when three grownups tell me "No, I didn't see your email" and I'm staring at my sent items and saying '"Restarting application services" sent at 1:52 PM to A, B, and C? I can resend it if you need..." WELL FUCK ME TWICE. It is in your inbox after all. All of your inboxes too! I'm sorry, did you say you didn't get it? I can't hear you. Speak up. And, no, "I was looking for an email with a different title" doesn't actually count as an explanation. That's just a stupid thing to say.

Shit, is it only Thursday? Someone might still die at my hands yet this week.

I think I should go home...